TOTALED!!!!!

So the summer in between my junior and senior year of high school I was on my way home from football practice. I was tired a little sore listening to my favorite CD and eating an apple. I was behind someone at a stop sign and all of the sudden there is a loud bang my head jerks and my apple is gone and I am extremely confused as to what just happened. I look in my rear view mirror and see a man clenching his steering wheel with a terrified and confused look on his face like he has no idea what is going on. I get out of my car to view the scene and figure out what is going on. I finally put it all together that I was just involved in a 4 car pile up. A man driving way to fast rear ended the car behind me which caused him to rear end me which caused me to rear end the car in front of me at the stop sign. After a couple of hours of waiting for the police to come and filling our papers I finally got to go home. I was told that within the next couple of days someone from the man's insurance that caused this would come to check out my car to figure out how much it would be to fix. To make a long story a little bit shorter my car was deemed totaled; my car was still drivable so the man's insurance company just paid me for the worth of my car.

What I am getting at here with this long story is that car's can get totaled in accidents and are never able to drive again. I was lucky enough in this situation where my car was still drivable after the crash but in some situations the cars are not drivable after a collision.

Yes even this story can be related to the gospel. Imagine that your soul is a car, some may think that their soul is a new Cadillac or a Mercedes, some may think that theirs may be a 1982 Honda that has gone 400,000 miles and is so old the door is about to fall off. But no matter what kind of car you think your soul looks like there is a repair shop that can fix it. It can give you a new engine or transmission, it can give you a new paint job, and it can give you a new headlight and even change your tires. The repair shop I am talking about is called The Gospel of Jesus Christ. I can promise you if you begin to follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ your car will get repaired, and the coolest thing about it is it's free and there is no line to wait in! You just have go and try, you just have to pray, read the Book of Mormon and go to church and follow the commandments that are there to guide us and bless us. This Auto Shop has saved my soul and I know it will do the same for you!

Dear Santa,

Dear Santa,

I’ve been an awful good guy all year, Santa buddy so hurry down the chimney tonight:

1 Rolex

1 '65 convertible, steel blue

1 yacht
Mercedes decorations
Cha-ching and I don't mean as a loan

I’ve been a sweetie all year Santa buddy, next year I could be just as good if you check off my Christmas list. I really do believe in you so let’s see if you believe in me.

Sincerely,
Michael Buble

This is Michael Buble’s Christmas list he must have been a really good boy if he is asking for all of this. Christmas lists are ways to let Santa know what you want for Christmas. Then if Santa decides that we have been a good boy or girl during the year he gives us what we asked for.

This is extremely similar to a prayer. We always ask God for things and he gives them to us. The only difference is that we usually have to seek out our answer. Don't forget this year as you are writing Santa letters to get on your knees and talk to your heavenly father.

I know that as we do so we will remember the real meaning of Christmas and have The Spirit of CHRISTmas with us during this season.

This short Mormon message is a great little clip that really helped me to remember that Christmas isn’t all about what is on our Christmas list.

Men's Hearts Shall Fail Them

Life is extremely tough; there is a lot of heartache, sorrow and tragedy. A lot of times terrible things happen and we never know why. But with faith in Jesus Christ we can be calm when problems arise. That is one of the biggest purposes of the gospel of Jesus Christ; it is to bring comfort to us when we are in desperate need. Like in this video when Elder Nelson was faced with death he was calm, ready to return home. While the lady on the other side was hysterical and freaking out. Elder Nelson was able to stay calm because of his faith in our savior Jesus Christ and he understands God's plan for us. We can all strengthen our faith and come to the same understanding as Elder Nelson by reading from the Holy Scriptures and praying. It will take time but we all can strengthen our faith.

My favorite part of this clip is when Elder Nelson says “Don't demand things that are unreasonable but, demand of yourself improvement...?” often times we expect of ourselves to much. We compare ourselves to others who have more, which is a terrible thing to do. You have to remember that everybody comes from different backgrounds and has had different trials and experiences in their lives, so everybody is at different levels. Don't demand one day to be perfect, that is unreasonable. Demand of yourself improvement everyday.

I invite all of you to start today. Demand of yourself improvement, whether it be strengthening your faith in Jesus Christ, becoming a better athlete, or becoming a better student, start today! Don't start with leaps and bounds start with small and simple steps. When tomorrow comes be able to look back and say I improved in one way. When you do so before you know it you will notice that you have improved by leaps and bounds, and you will impress yourself.



Prayer

So imagine you have the chance to have the President of the United States of America over for dinner. When you call him to see what day and time he is available you are going to work to his schedule. You are not going to call him and say it's this night at this time you better be here. You are going to do accommodate to him because he is kind of busy and kind of important. You are going to do everything you can to make sure your schedule will match his.

When you finally get down what time the dinner is going to be you will probably do everything you can to make it the best dinner ever. You will probably clean your house and make it look the best it has. You might even go to the store and get a really nice table cloth and placemats if you don't already have some. Maybe some cool looking cups as well. You will do everything you can to make it a nice dinner.

 

The same principle applies to prayer. Why do we when we pray sometimes ask for blessings and say I except it to happen like this, or this is how I am going to do it? Why do we in a nice way demand what we want from God, The Almighty? I think it is sometimes because we forget that God can see what is really best for us and gives us our blessings when it is the best time for us. We just want everything to happen the way we want.

After we pray we should do all we can to find our answer or receive our blessing; just like we would do everything in our power to make it a nice dinner for the President. When we ask God for something we then should do all we can to receive the blessing or find our answer. We read all throughout the scriptures that if we ask, then seek, it shall be opened.

I know that this is true because I have done it myself. Many times I turned to the lord asked for help, searched it out then it was opened unto me. I know if you do the same he will open the windows of heaven and blessings will come.

The Power of Prayer is Real

Since my companion got this whopping speeding ticket he was pleading with the lord for some miracle to happen so it would go away. He felt bad because his parents would have had to pay it because as missionaries we have no income so he had no way to pay it. He didn't want this big fine to be on his parent’s shoulders. He prayed about it every night until we went to court to settle it.

We show up to court and we wait until he gets called up. To our surprise the judge has no record of the ticket. He said it was lost in cyber space and it was like he never got one. My companion was off the hook, so he thought. The judge took down our address and said that the ticket could show up the next day or in 6 months or it may never show up. We thought his prayer was answered and he was off the hook.

A few days later in the mail he gets a letter it ways from the city of Palmyra and they said they found his ticket in cyber space and they gave him a new court date. His heart was torn he thought he was off the hook. He began praying again for another miracle to happen. A couple weeks go by and we have our court date. As we are waiting for his turn and we’re listening to all the people go up and how expensive their fines were. They were all getting about $200 fines and they were only going around 10mph over the speed limit. My companion was terrified for his turn; he didn't want to have to tell his parents he needed like $400 for a silly speeding ticket.

It is finally his turn he wanted to lighten the mood a little, when he was before the judge he said something to the extent of I guess I wasn't as lucky as I thought I was you caught me. The judge chuckled and remembered him and that his ticket wasn't there at his first court date. He said that he was going to wave the ticket because of the inconvenience of having to come back a second time. My companions face was priceless when he turned around. Right when we got into the hallway to leave the courthouse he dropped to a knee and thanked the lord for sparing him from his dad's wrath.

Elder Larson and I just after he got off the hook from his ticket.

This is just a funny story to show that the power of prayer is real. I’m not saying that every ticket you get will go away if you pray about it. But the power of prayer is real! Heavenly Father listens to every word we say when we talk to him through prayer. We can ask our father in heaven anything whether it be for a miracle to take away a speeding ticket or if we need to know what classes to take or just for help to get through the day. I can promise you he is listening and that he will answer your prayer when you say it with real intent. We read in the Book of Mormon in the Book of Moroni 7:6 that if we pray without real intent it will prophet us nothing. So when we have a sincere desire to talk to God he talks back either through our feelings, the scriptures or what some else says, he always answers our prayers.

Mail

Everyday around 2 o'clock the mail comes, sometimes I'm home sometimes I'm not. But always when I go to the mailbox it's a surprise to see if I get anything. It's always so exciting to open the mailbox and look inside but usually the feeling of disappointment comes soon after opening the stupid box.

One day as I was walking to my apartment to go eat lunch I was hoping that there would be some mail for me. The anticipation was killing me. I had been waiting for a letter back from a friend. I get to the box open it and... To my surprise nothing was there again and I was sad.

As I was wallowing in my despair, as I was mad at the mailman for not bringing me more letters, I came up with this analogy about the mail system.

When you send a letter you usually tell a couple of funny or interesting stories that happened recently, tell about some of the cool new people you've met, and you say how you are doing, and maybe ask for some things from home. That sounds almost exactly like a prayer. I always include those things in my prayers, especially asking for stuff from home.

Then waiting for the reply letter is like waiting for answers to your prayers. You never know when they are going to come or what form they will come in. Sometimes you may get frustrated because you haven't gotten an answer in a long time. It happens to me all the time. Usually they come in the form of a letter. But very rarely you get a package waiting for you on your doorstep.

These are the answers to our prayers. Most of the time it's a nice feeling of peace and joy or an assurance that something is right, or personal revelation, the letter. But everyone once in a while you will get an answer in the form of a big epiphany or something, the package.

But unlike the post office you will always receive something back from God. It may just be a nice feeling or it may be a rare huge life changing revelation. You never know, but you will always get something in return. No matter what I get in return for my prayers I love my answer and always give thanks for them.